Non standard

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Non-standard construction materials

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To most insurers, standard construction materials comprise brick, stone, slate and tile (known in the home insurance industry as BSST). BSST is usually divided between walls (where brick, stone or concrete can be used) and roofs (made using slate, tile or concrete). Any materials not found in the standard BSST heading usually fall into the category of “non-standard” and, for homes built using unusual materials, this is where insurance troubles will often begin.

These are some of the building materials that are generally considered to be non-standard by most home insurance companies:

Asbestos

A building material that became popular in construction between the 1950s and 1980s, owing to its extremely high heat resistance, sound absorption qualities and tensile strength. A naturally occurring mineral, asbestos became much less popular when it was discovered that several cancerous diseases are directly caused by inhaling concentrated amounts of airborne asbestos fibres.

As long as asbestos is not damaged, and not placed in a position where it could be damaged, then the invisible fibres can not become airborne and will not be harmful to you. In fact, because asbestos fibres are present in the UK environment, almost all of us are exposed to a very low level of fibres daily. It is only when exposed to concentrated doses that we are at risk. It is estimated by the HSE that an average of 38 skilled professionals die every week as a result of asbestos exposure.

Cob

A material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water and earth, which when combined together produces a fireproof material that is extremely resistant to earthquake damage and particularly inexpensive to produce. It is becoming increasingly popular for use in eco-friendly, sustainable building projects.

Corrugated iron

Galvanised sheets of steel which is fabricated with linear corrugations. This style of fabrication increases flexible strength parallel to the corrugated pattern, but not across it.

Glass and fibreglass

Glass is made from sand and silicates and though a common material in standard construction when used for windows, when it is used to create curtain walls or space frames (the former covers an entire building facade, the latter spans across a wide roof structure) it is thought of as non standard. Fibreglass is created using extremely fine glass fibres, and is favoured for its low weight to surface area ratio.

Metal

Used to build the skeletal frame work for many large-scale structures and occasionally as surface coverings. When properly treated, metal such as steel alloys can serve as a strong and flexible building component for great lengths of time, but when exposed to weathering corrosion can become a problem.

Timber and plaster

Timber refers to a building's wooden construction. A modern timber-framed building (usually built after 1965) might use wood as the basis of construction, employing BSST to build external walls/roof, and is usually considered as being of standard construction. Where building exteriors are built solely from timber, or timber/plaster combinations, they are likely to be seen as non-standard.

Wattle and daub

An ancient building technique that is known to date back at least 6,000 years, where a woven lattice of wooden strips forms a wattle before being daubed with a sticky material similar to cob. Found in many historic buildings, wattle and daub is once again making a comeback in the western world as a sustainable building technique.

Roofing

There are a number of roofing materials that might be seen as non-standard for insurance purposes, such as shingle, felt and thatch. Coatings such as asphalt and bitumen can also constitute non-standard roofing materials; these are often applied to shingles or slates to provide waterproofing.

If your house has any of the non-standard building materials mentioned above, then it is likely that you will have difficulty obtaining suitable insurance at a reasonable price.

With HomeProtect you can find a competitive online quote for home insurance, no matter how unusual your home or how non-standard the materials used to construct it are. As long as your home is in the UK and sits upon fixed foundations, we aim to provide the cover you need.